As of January 1, 2016, the use of reflective
vests will be required of anyone who drives a motor vehicle, which must
be carried in an accessible place inside the car, such as inside the glove
compartment.
"When descending from the
vehicle, it is sought that you have your vest on, to avoid being run over in
dark places, day or night, that is, where visibility is very low," the
Seremi de Transportes Telecomunicaciones told Oscar Pereira.
In the same line, helping the acquisition
of this new security element, Conaset, the Chilean Association of Security and
Automobile Club of Chile will deliver 25 thousand reflective vests for free to
drivers throughout the country until March 2016.
The reflective vest should not be any
color, it should be phosphorescent yellow with retro-reflective
tapes, to distinguish them from those used in road works.
This regulation seeks to reduce the
rate of abuse due to low visibility. Drivers who are caught by carabineros
without this security element risk fines ranging from 0.2 to 0.5 UTM, that is
an amount not less than approximately $ 22,000.
In the last 10 years, more than 6,000
people have died in Chile and in 2014 alone, 615 pedestrians died in traffic
accidents. A point to take into consideration, international experiences being
the endorsement of this initiative, where thanks to the use of this reflective
material significantly reduce the number of accidents.
